Carbon adsorption for recovery of organic pesticides.

ORGANIC many other pesticides, types of synthetic along with orany other ty es of synthe ic organic materials, contribute substantially to the ever-increasing problem of pollution of our water supplies. Some of these pesticides, especially the chlorinated hydrocarbon variety, are extremely persistent and, being only partially removed by treatment, reach the consumer in his drinking water. As little as 1 fxg/l of a pesticide could conceivably have undesirable effects on health, interfere with water quality, or kill fish.1 The carbon adsorption method (CAM) has been shown to be a useful approach in isolating and recovering these materials from water.2 The CAM provides the sampling of a relatively large volume of water to yield sufficient amounts of individual trace contaminants to permit corroborative identification. However, neither adsorption nor desorption efficiencies are known for the great many organic compounds found in surface waters.3 It is known that this method does not